Funny Car - More Roar!

And...we're back, ears still ringing, eyes still watering, brainwaves scrambled like eggs, and minds altered in that fitful rain of raw fuel with lungs in lockdown for more than a few seconds. It occurred that while all of this was being documented, it was only for a particle of a second and then the thunder dragons and their surly, stinking breath became the past, just like that. The sacred moment burst like a soap bubble, without an inkling, without a single thought of posterity. All we wanted to do was get the shot and get the hell out of the way.

Soft Harpoon

2/6

Not to be confused with Javelin 1, a back-motor car with a body that flipped up from the rear, the conventional-layout Javelin 2 ran the Coke circuit in 1969 and won a special American Motors race at Irwindale. Doug Thorley teamed driver Dick Bourgeois with tuner Earl Wade, and they ran a 449-inch AMC engine. The second iteration had a Wade-built 427 Chevy that went 7.38 at 204.

Snowman vs. Setzer

3/6

Two of the hottest Funny Cars in the world were ready to duke it out at an early '70s match race. The joint was rockin', OCIR's Steve Evans was busily promoting its annual Manufacturer's Meets, and 32-car mid-week shows were commonplace. Gene Snow, still active as a car owner, won just about every title available to a nitro-burner. North Carolinian Barry Setzer had a stable of Fuel Cars that were built, and often driven, by the late, great Pat Foster.

Dandy Dick

4/6

Landy flattens the pie-crust M&H's and hangs 'em at 223rd and Alameda in the outlands of fabled Wilmington, California. Scary brutes like his long-stack, altered-wheelbase Coronet soon morphed into the Funny Car as we know it. From Super Stock to A/FX, Landy and his Dodges were most feared.

Moon Shot

5/6

Before the late Gene Mooneyham opened his fabled shop, he moved from Southern California to South Louisiana to run Car Shop, Inc. In 1967, the Car Shop team built this Chevy-powered Camaro with its trademark Charger-style roofline. It was driven by Frank Huff or Henry Garcia and eventually turned a best of 7.51 at 189. When Car Shop went fish-belly, Mooneyham repaired to SoCal and enjoyed his successful supercharger business.

Goosed

6/6

What can you say about Tom McEwen? The hall-of-fame driver, team owner, and self-promoter can be credited with the concept of corporate-sponsored teams. At times, Coca-Cola, Mopar, and Revell all put heavy money in his operations, and in return, they got one of the sport's very best.